Approaches to Death

As we get into the later years of our lives, after we’ve lost a parent (or both) and more than a few school chums, we start to consider, perhaps for the first time, our own mortality.

Dylan Thomas is best remembered for his poem that begins:  Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

As shown at left, however, the Stoics had a far different, and, I would suggest, healthier approach to the event that ultimately confronts all of us.

Their Latin saying, Memento mori, “remember that you [have to] die”, may sound equally macabre, but it carries the same life affirming concept as does “Carpe diem.”  Make every moment count, toward whatever you wish to achieve for yourself, and/or for those around you.